The Disturbing Secret Behind “don’t hurt me mommy” The Case of Christine Belford

 

There’s a disturbing video on YouTube posted on March 20th, 2011. The title is “Don’t hurt me mommy.” The owner of the account was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. Now, pay attention to the woman in the video. Her name is Christine Belford. The person filming wants you to think she’s mistreating her children, but when you read the comments, the amount of outrage tells you there’s more to the story. And in 2007, Christine’s three children will disappear. This is David Matusiewicz, Christine’s ex-husband. On August 26th, 2007, Christine lets David take the kids after he promised them a fun trip to Disney World. Two weeks later, the children are missing and David is nowhere to be found. What follows is an 18-month international manhunt. As David, his mother, Lenore, his father Thomas, and his sister Amy will orchestrate the worst case of cyberstalking the state has ever seen.

The first people in the entire country convicted of cyberstalking resulting in death. First and foremost, this was not a random act of violence. Shots have been fired inside a Wilmington, Delaware courthouse. Witnesses say a man shot and killed two women. We’re now getting word that the gunman may be dead. The FBI is on site, the Secret Service. A shooting occurred at about 8:00 this morning.

On February 11th, 2013, an unidentified man opens fire inside a Wilmington courthouse, fatally shooting two women before taking his own life. The investigation is still preliminary at this time. We’re processing the entire scene. We have tactical teams searching every floor of that courthouse.

The gunman’s vehicle, a white SUV, is found parked across the street. Inside, police find a red notebook in which is written a hit list of future targets. One of the names, Timothy Hitchings, Christine Belford’s lawyer. Obviously, I was intended to be killed that day. We didn’t know who might still be at large looking for me.

CCTV footage shows two men exiting the vehicle before one of them calmly crosses the street and enters the courthouse alone. At 12:10 p.m., police released a statement to the press saying the gunman was related to one of the victims. One victim was reportedly the shooter’s estranged wife, David Matusiewicz shot and killed Belford inside the New Castle County Courthouse. The truth, however, is far more disturbing. Detective Shriner, who was called to the scene on February 11th, describes in an interview exactly what he found. I heard on my police radio about a shooting at the courthouse. Obviously, I immediately responded. I saw two individuals on the ground. There was another individual on the ground just outside the rotating door.

When he walks across the lobby he recognizes one of the people deceased. I said to myself, “Oh, my.” And I knew knew what this was about. Detective Shriner is the only person on site to be familiar with the case of Christine Belford and David Matusiewicz. Right away, he assumes he knows who the shooter is but Detective Shriner is wrong. September 9th, 2007, six years before the shooting, at around 9:00 p.m., Detective Jeff Shriner of the Missing Persons Unit receives a call from a distressed mother claiming that her three daughters have been kidnapped. The woman on the phone is Christine Belford and the man who she claims abducted her children is her ex-husband David Matusiewicz, along with his mother Lenora Matusiewicz. Christine explains that David took the girls on a two-week trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but never returned. At first, Shriner doesn’t think it’s a kidnapping. Just another case of parents fighting over custody.

I didn’t initially look at it as something strange. Parents, they’re not concerned about getting the children home. They wanna get as much time with the children as they can. But when Shriner tries to contact David, he’s nowhere to be found. His suspicions increase when Christine shows him the custody papers. It states that David made various allegations claiming Christine is an unfit mother and that he should have full custody. He started off by saying I was bipolar trying to have me committed so he could have the kids. As the investigation begins, Shriner first looks at credit card records. It shows David’s last transaction was made on August 26. The day that they left for Florida. It just told us he was taking off. It’s your worst fear come true. It’s not ever good when it’s a stranger, but when it’s your parent, I have a very hard time believing that a parent would do that.

Right away, Detective Shriner sends out a missing persons report, but no one knows just what David and his mother have in store. More than 2000 miles south in Hidalgo, Texas. Christine’s three daughters, Laura, Leigh, and Karen, are sitting in the back of a Winnebago. David and Lenore are up front. After driving on Interstate Highway 2 David takes the nearest exit and turns on International Boulevard toward the Mexican border. In less than one mile, U.S. jurisdiction will end. As he reaches a customs booth, the agent grabs their passports and asks how many people are inside the RV. As David answers, he shows no signs of being worried. Neither does Lenore. The agent can hear the girls talking and playing in the back. He looks at the passports one at a time, then hands them back to David and opens the gate. David and Lenore have now successfully crossed international lines. What authorities don’t know is, David started planning his crime as early as last year. In December, 2006, he made arrangements to get fake IDs for himself, his mom, and all three girls. David crossed the Mexican border on August 28th and left no trace behind. Now, with a two-week head start, they could be anywhere. Investigators searched David’s house. They find ties to a New Zealand bank account and to Canada. Shriner has also discovered that David sold the Vision Center for $650,000. What’s worse? David has taken a line of credit for $249,000 under Christine’s name for which he forged her signature.

I’m sitting here in Delaware trying to figure out where they could have gone, what they could be doing, searching on the internet, doing whatever I could. She was very strong through all of this. I don’t know how she did it. It was always with grace. Even though she hadn’t slept the night before she would go out there and try to do right by those kids. November, 2007. Christine’s daughters have been missing for two months. Thomas Matusiewicz and his daughter Amy Gonzalez deny knowing anything about where David and Lenore went. Strangely enough, both Thomas and Amy moved to Edcouch, Texas, less than 20 miles from the Mexican border.

All those things didn’t add up at all. At that point, I assumed that the whole family was involved. The search goes international. Every news outlet talks about the kidnapping of three girls by a Delaware optometrist. In August 2006, David’s father, Thomas, loans him money to start a vision center. But in 2007, business is failing and David is in debt. He’s been accused of overbilling and defrauding insurance companies. His only way out is a life insurance policy taken out on his daughters. If he were to collect, it would have been over a million dollars. What’s more is, David has taken out multiple loans under Christine’s name without her knowledge. His final goal? Disappear with his children and cash out the insurance money. This is New Zealand immigration footage from August 28th, 2007. A man believed to be David Matusiewicz, his mother, Lenore, and Christine’s three daughters arrive at the Auckland International Airport. They stayed for a month before relocating to Hamilton, New Zealand, in September 2007. Upon arrival, David files for sole custody of the girls in the New Zealand family court. They had no right to be there, no right to do what they did.

Thomas and Amy leave a note behind claiming David was the only one responsible for the girls’ disappearance. The FBI doesn’t believe it. Both are charged with lying to the grand jury and conspiracy to commit interstate stalking. The court documents read, “The conduct of Thomas and Amy was especially heinous given that they were entrusted by law to assist the United States in bringing David Matusiewicz to justice.” The family is caught. David is charged with international parental kidnapping resulting in death, among other charges. He pleads guilty to one count of international parental kidnapping resulting in death. He’s sentenced to life in prison without parole. His mother, Lenore, pleads guilty to three counts of international parental kidnapping resulting in death. She’s sentenced to life in prison without parole. Thomas and Amy are sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, each, for their role in the conspiracy. After eight years of uncertainty, Christine’s daughters are brought back to the United States. They will now live with their grandmother, minus one. She didn’t get to see the girls grow up, and they didn’t get to see her grow old. But the memory of their mother and her struggle will never be forgotten.